


way beyond the stars

by independentalto



Series: (all that i can hear is) a simple song [12]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, also shoutout to lian may, baby daisy is the most dramatic baby ever, parenting AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/independentalto/pseuds/independentalto
Summary: Daisy is the most dramatic babyever, Melinda realizes.
Relationships: Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Series: (all that i can hear is) a simple song [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594819
Comments: 12
Kudos: 38





	way beyond the stars

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "You" by A Great Big World.

Babies are some of the most dramatic beings in the world, Melinda acknowledged, but Daisy Lian Coulson had to be the most dramatic baby ever brought into it. Or, at the very least, somewhere in the top three. Phil liked to joke that she got it from Melinda herself, but when reminded of the time he climbed onto the roof because of a stray cat, he tended to shut right up. 

See, Daisy had chosen to arrive into the world at exactly midnight between July 1st and July 2nd, leaving the doctors (as well as she and Phil) befuddled as to  _ when  _ to place her birth date. Did they put it on the 1st? The 2nd? Flip a coin to decide? “Put it on the 2nd,” Lian had finally piped up from the corner of the room. “No one wants to be born on the first.” 

“Thanks, Mom,” Melinda groaned from the bed, weakly squeezing Phil’s hand. “I swear, if you ever wish you were born on the first, I’m disowning you,” she muttered over to the nurse holding Daisy. “You are the most  _ dramatic  _ little baby I’ve ever seen.” 

_ Six hours ago, Melinda had been on the train home from work, swaying along and wondering what Phil would be cooking for dinner when she felt something clench and give, followed by the shocked gasps of the passengers beside her as liquid flowed to the ground. “You’re joking,” Melinda hissed at her belly when several of them clamored around her, trying to help. “In the middle of my commute home?” Sure, she’d felt the slight contractions all morning, but she’d thought she’d at least be good to get to work.  _

_ Other people were scrambling to get a conductor, some springing out of their seats to offer them to her. Melinda took a seat from a nurse who was smiling knowingly, thanked the person beside her who’d offered a small towel, and pulled out her phone to call Phil.  _

_ “Hi, honey,” she’d started, feeling awkward and exposed with everyone staring at her. “Could you come get me at Broadway? My water just broke. Yeah, right on the red line,” she said to a round of cheers and applause. “Maybe they’ll give me free fare for life. Oh, and call Maria if you can to have her get my car, I’m not paying for overnight parking.”  _

_ “Wha -- I know I’m in labor!” she exclaimed indignantly to a round of snickers. “I’m still not paying for overnight parking, Phil! Yes, I’ll call my mom. No, I don’t get why she still scares you. We’ve been together for ten years. How many times do I have to tell you that’s just the way she is?”  _

_ She sighed. “Love you. See you later.” Just then, the train pulled into Melinda’s intended stop, and the nurse offered his arm, which she took and waddled off of the train.  _

_ “Early, late or on time?” he asked as they slowly ascended the stairs. “The late ones are always the most dramatic.”  _

_ “Late, unfortunately,” Melinda sighed, rubbing her belly. “Not by long, mind you. About a week. But if a week means this level of drama, I’d hate to think what would happen when she turns 16.” The nurse chuckled, patting her arm and opening the exit door.  _

_ “Combined with all of the spirit of being a teenage girl? You’re going to have quite a time on your hands. Good luck, ma’am.” Melinda thanked him one last time before shuffling out onto the plaza. She knew she looked a sight, with her probably ruined work clothes and pained look on her face. Finally, Phil’s car rolled into the pickup area, her husband sprinting across the plaza to help her to the car.  _

_ “I got the baby bag, I called Maria, she’s going to pick your car up later tonight. Clint and Tasha say they’re going to try and be there, but no promises.”  _

_ “And me,” came an amused voice from the back, and Melinda had to to crick her back just to see who was sitting in her backseat. “He called me. Since you couldn’t, it seems.”  _

_ Phil got into the car, his eyes still round with fright. “Oh, yeah,” he said nervously. “I called your mom.”  _

_ “See, honey? It wasn’t all that bad,” Melinda chuckled, patting his knee before hissing. “Ah. Yeah, there’s a contraction. We’d better get over to Tufts.”  _

_ They made it to the hospital in record time, Phil even daring to drop Lian and Melinda in the ambulance lane of a crowded ER before peeling off to find a parking space. “You have a good day at work?” Lian asked while Melinda was being loaded onto a stretcher. The latter shot her mother a confused look, even as pain from the contractions flitted across her face. “What? You’re about to push a seven-pound baby out from you. Figured I would distract you.”  _

_ As it was, the actual pushing wouldn’t happen for another six and a half hours. Melinda spent the majority of those six hours bending over a yoga ball, taking long walks up and down the walls of the hospital (subsequently making friends with other mothers in the process) and fretting to Phil about whether she would be a good mother.  _

_ Lian stepped out somewhere around hour three, returning a few hours later with leftover Chinese food and coffee. “You might not be able to drink it, but he will,” she said, offering the cup to Phil.  _

_ Somewhere around hour 4.5, the contractions began to kick in harder and harder, the breaths forcing themselves through Melinda’s teeth and eventually confining her to the bed. “Looks like we’re at ten centimeters,” the nurse clucked when Phil called for her. “For now, just push down when you feel you need to, okay, Melinda?”  _

_ Melinda pushed for what felt like days. Throughout it all, Phil remained by her side, his hand turning a nice shade of purple as she clenched it to near death. Her throat scraped itself raw, she probably burst a couple of capillaries with all of the clenching she was doing, but still, the baby refused to come out.  _

_ “Come on, baby,” she panted somewhere around an hour later. “Just come out, please?” The urge to push bore down on her once more. “I can’t push much longer, baby. Come on, please?”  _

_ “This is it,” Phil chanted, holding Melinda’s hand tightly. “This is gonna be it, honey, this is gonna be the one. I can feel it!”  _

_ “You can’t feel it, you’re not the one giving birth -- AAAAH!” The push that followed ripped the loudest scream from Melinda’s throat, turned Phil’s hand temporarily numb and resulted in a broad cry from the new life that’d just been brought into the world.  _

_ “You did it,” Phil said weakly, releasing Melinda’s hand. She fell back into the pillows, her world suddenly swimming before her eyes. “You did it, honey. She’s beautiful.” If she closed her eyes, Melinda could hear the sound of the umbilical cord being cut, the surprised cry of the foot poke being administered, and their baby girl -- Daisy, they’d decided, Daisy Lian -- was swaddled into a pale pink blanket.  _

When the bawling mess was secured into her arms, she couldn’t help but tear up as she thumbed Daisy’s forehead. “Hi, Daisy, it’s your mama,” she cooed hoarsely, and for a moment, Daisy stopped crying and grabbed at Melinda’s finger with wide brown eyes. “I’m so glad you’re with me and your dada, yeah? You’re a part of the family now.” It was like Daisy had been the last click into the puzzle piece that was her life -- first it had been Phil, with his quirky mannerisms and commitment; now Daisy, small, beautiful,  _ her  _ Daisy. If she hadn’t thought her heart could get any fuller, she’d been sorely mistaken. 

“She’s beautiful,” Phil whispered beside her, and just for a moment, there was no one in the world save for the three of them, the new life in Melinda’s arms the big bang blowing their universe into existence. It was incredible, really: one minute, Daisy’d been a concept, a dream waiting to be brought into reality, and the next, she was  _ there _ , the pinnacle of so many of their hopes and dreams. 

Phil figured he didn’t have to wonder what it was like to have them come true. Not anymore. 

The two of them were in awe the whole ride back, watching Daisy’s face scrunch up, then down, then reach out to bat whoever was closer. It wasn’t long before Lian’s car pulled into the driveway, all of them trooping into the house. (Phil and Lian did  _ not  _ put up an extended fight to have Melinda let them help her in. They did  _ not _ .) 

It was nearing two in the morning at this point, yet there was still so much to be done -- Lian puttered to put the leftovers away, Phil whisked Daisy off to put her into her crib for the first time, and Melinda...Melinda just sat tiredly on a kitchen stool, wishing desperately she could take a shower. 

“Come on,  _ Qiaolian, _ ” Lian murmured, patting her daughter on the back. “You’ve done so much today. It’s time for you to rest.” 

“Wanna see her first,” Melinda mumbled, and Lian sighed. 

“Then we go see her, and after that, you go to bed.” Together, they shuffled towards the bedroom, where Phil was just staring at Daisy like she’d just taught him how to see colors all over again. 

“Lil Daisy Lian,” he murmured, stroking Daisy’s brow. “Welcome home to your new life, honey. You’re gonna change us all.” Lian moved to persuade him to bed, leaving Melinda to stare, slightly awed, at everything that’d just transpired in the last 24 hours. 

She’d had a baby. A  _ baby _ . Ask her a year ago, and she hadn’t even  _ considered  _ for it to be a part of her near future. But toss one pebble in the ocean and the ripples its makes spread wide -- one thing had led to another, and while she and Phil had certainly discussed it, nothing had made Melinda happier than showing up to his office with the three positive pregnancy tests in her hand. 

Everything was about to change, whether she wanted it to or not. Granted, she’d known that as soon as she’d found out she was pregnant, but now...now, it was real. Daisy was real and tangible, dressed in her tiny cloud onesie that Maria had gotten for her baby shower. 

She didn’t have to know what it was like living without her anymore -- Daisy Lian Coulson, born at 12AM on July 2nd -- had been the last piece to everything she’d ever needed in her life.


End file.
